For persons confined to a bed or otherwise unable to use normal toilet facilities in a conventional bathroom, a bowel movement is often painful, embarrassing, frustrating and complicated. Conventional bedpans require the patient to be placed in an uncomfortable position and are difficult to use causing the patient considerable embarrassment and pain.
Several devices have been development attempting to overcome the disadvantages associated with bedpans. These devices are insertable into the patient's rectum and comprise a bag or closed end tube which receives the fecal matter. Typical examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,332 to Delaney, U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,500 to Ronnquist and U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,828 to Vasile and U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,521 to Ritota et al.
However, conventional excretion collecting devices or rectal catheters are difficult and painful to place into and remove from the patient, are uncomfortable to the patient while in place, and are unduly complex causing them to be difficult and expensive to manufacture. The complex arrangement of the conventional devices also make them difficult to operate. Their relatively high cost prevents the conventional devices from being readily used in a disposable manner.